Canadian Prince & Princess of "Pot" targeted and swept up in Dispensary Raids
On the evening of Wednesday, March 8th 2017 at around 7pm, without stating any reason nor charges, globally renown Canadian front-line cannabis freedom fighters Marc & Jodie Emery, aka "The Prince & Princess of pot" were encountered, confronted, detained, arrested, transported and held in a Toronto jail overnight until they could be brought to court for formal arraignment and officially informed of the charges justifying their unexplained incarceration, or at least that was how it appears to have been planned to go down by the law enforcers initiating it anyway.
It's said that way because as Thursday morning began and word began to rapidly spread about police activity encompassing the Emery empire, it didn't take the prince and princess long to figure out what another uphill and very bumpy road they had embarked upon.
Canadian law enforcers initiated "Project Gator" on the morning of Thursday, March 9th 2017 which included the execution of 11 total search warrants across the western Canadian continents. Toronto authorities state that because "Only Health Canada- Approved patients are legally allowed to buy cannabis from one of 40 Federally regulated dispensaries via mail or courier" to which Canadian officials confidently state that Cannabis Culture is NOT one of them, concluding therefore, that the Emery's are in fact ultimately breaking current country law, and after 9 months, elected to jump into action.
Though realistically speaking "Cannabis Culture" had been established and widely supported throughout Canada by the Prince alone since the mid-1990's and well beyond since the 2000's once the Prince and Princess married and joined forces, especially with their magazine "Cannabis Culture" which is their version of High Times that Literally began giving High times an honorable run for their money here in the United States while maintaining their countryman's support as well.
Cannabis Culture’s expansion into retail pot sales began with the opening last April of a Vancouver store, followed a month later by a Toronto location. The dates of the Emery’s alleged trafficking offences began the day the Toronto dispensary opened, last May 27, court documents show.
To hear Toronto police Inspector Todd Watts explain about "Project Gator, click here:
According to the local police, a total of 7 Cannabis Culture dispensaries were raided, 5 being in Toronto, 1 store in Hamilton, and one in Vancouver. Additionally 4 warrants were served at private residences connected with the Cannabis Culture empire, which included the Emery's apartment in Vancouver, one in Stoney Creek, and two in Toronto.
All in all, police report to have "Seized $250,000.00 in different currencies"at the Cannabis Culture involved raids. Additionally authorities have also report to have seizing more than "65 kilograms of cannabis, 2.4 kilograms of cannabis extracts (Shatter), and other drug paraphernalia." What authorities seem to gloss over is the fact that they had in fact happily received $400,000.00 for just one of the companies quarterly taxes as a legally licensed business.
Though no employees or others present at any of the shoppes were arrested, in fact, they report only getting a stern warning that should they be caught in the shoppes they could well find themselves placed under arrest and too, arrests were in fact made as a result from "Project Gator". According to police, a total of 5 people have ultimately been arrested in association with the raids.
Among them is Marc Emery, a well known and supported front line cannabis freedom fighter in Canada age 59 who has long been known as "The Prince of Pot", along with his 32 year young wife Jodie Emery, "The Princess of Pot" were encountered and sequentially arrested at Toronto Pearson International Airport the evening Before the warrants and raids were executed while preparing for departure to Barcelona, Spain for the "Spannabis" cannabis expo.
The Emery's were charged with a variety of charges ranging from "Conspiracy to commit and indictable offense", to 3 counts of "Trafficking Schedule II" and 5 counts of "Possession Proceeds of Crime". Marc was additionally charged with "Failure to comply with Recognizance" and "Conspiracy to commit an Indictable Offense" because Canadian authorities feel Cannabis Culture are Not legally operating, which if deemed true by the courts ultimately means the Emery's are in fact breaking Canadian law and likely will end up with serious legal consequences for the Emery's and others to suffer through.
Jodie Emery is charged with five counts including the "Conspiracy to commit an Indictable Offense", but interestingly, she was only charged with one count of "Trafficking Schedule II" and only 2 counts of "Possession Proceeds of Crime" unlike husband Marc who got a little stiffer of a legal blow, but, Jodie was also charged with "Possession for the Purpose Schedule II".
In addition to the Emery's, Cannabis Culture franchise owners were arrested including Chris Goodman, 37 along with his wife Erin Goodwin, 31, of Toronto, where arrested and charged with: "Conspiracy to Commit an Indictable Offence" and for "Fail-to-Comply Recognizance", Britney Guerra, 29, of Stoney Creek, was arrested and charged with: "Conspiracy to Commit an Indictable Offence", Three counts of "Possession for the Purpose Schedule II", and with three counts of "Possession Proceeds of Crime."
To the surprise and shock to many, the Emery's were not granted bail by the court and instead were ordered held over in custody to appear at the Old City Hall that very next day. Employees Chris Goodwin and Erin Goodwin went to court that day to support the Emerys, but were arrested at the courthouse on related charges and spent a night in jailas well. Britney Anne Guerra, who ran a Cannabis Culture dispensary in Hamilton, was also arrested at her home and spent a night in jail.
To hear from the media coverage from the initial hearing, and from the Goodwin's please click here:
They all appeared in the Toronto courtroom that next afternoon and ultimately were granted the right of bail after Jodie Emery was reprimanded for displaying "Peace Signs" to the gallery during the court session that is, bail to the tune of $30,000.00 Each, and too, with many "conditions" including being barred from going to "Any Cannabis Culture location or dispensary, facilitating or participating in the running of any Cannabis Culture shop", and too, the couple are banned from "Possessing Or Consuming ANY marijuana or other drugs without a prescription."
Because of this strict condition, both of the Emery's are gearing toward obtaining their medicinal cannabis license. Jodie told reporters upon returning to her apartment in Vancouver that she in fact already has had an appointment with a physician and believes she will have her card any day due to suffering from anxiety, especially inflamed after this traumatic experience which still brings her PTSD symptoms.
The pair's three co-accused were also released on $30,000 bail each after all five had appeared in court in Toronto and scheduled to reappear before the court on April 21st. All five were ordered to surrender their passports, banned from having weapons and told they cannot consume controlled substances unless they have valid prescriptions.
Jodie Emery's bail conditions allow her to travel to B.C. with permission because she is considered a resident of that province but Marc's bail conditions, along with Chris and Erin's require them to stay in Ontario until the case is concluded.
Upon release, Marc told media that "Being arrested is an injustice that we are used to, and we see it as part of the struggle" and also noted that he has thus far been arrested 30 times and has been through 6 raids, and been in he's been in 36 different jails and custodial facilities since he began selling seeds in 1994 not even counting his 5 year incarceration in the United States for having sold seeds the mail.Marc Emery faces possible life imprisonment for his current charges, not to mention the possible forfeiture of all his assets.
Jodie, on the other hand seemed very distraught and upset over having to go through the whole ordeal, telling reporters outside the courthouse upon their release "This is my first time being arrested and detained and forced to strip naked in a very degrading fashion,"
To hear the Emery's upon their release from jail. please click here:
The couple own Cannabis Culture, a chain of 19 marijuana dispensaries in BC, Ontario and Quebec. At least one of their raided marijuana shops has since reopened for business the day the Emery's were released while In Vancouver, the raid on Cannabis Culture at 307 West Hastings was done by Toronto police officers. VPD refused to make the raid on Toronto's behalf, but did accompany the Toronto officers during their raid, "for safety." The store re-opened within hours.
. However, part of their release agreement means that the Emery's will have to remove themselves from dictatorship control as well as bank accounts associated with Cannabis Culture as well s not set foot in the empire they have built for more than 2 decades.
As of March 28th 2017, as more raids actively continue against cannabis dispensaries across Canada, Jodie posted the following statement while watching their old Cannabis club on Church Street raided before her very eyes: "The public is sick of the intimidation & brute force used by men with guns & badges against peaceful people for flowers... My heart is breaking for our people, our culture and our community. "
